94 Pitches, 14 Strikeouts
On April 9th, 2003, Javier Vazquez, with the Montreal Expos at the time, struck out 14 batters in only 96 pitches. He became the first player ever to strike out 14 batters in fewer than 100 pitches; only Greg Maddux, Tom Seaver, and Grant Jackson had ever struck out at least 13 with so few pitches.
On June 8th, 2010, Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals struck out 14 batters in only 94 pitches. That’s the highest number of strikeouts ever recorded with so few pitches. It came in his first career start, besting the greatest marks players like Seaver (105.3 rWAR) and Maddux (98.8 rWAR) ever posted.
Strasburg also became the first player to record at least 14 strikeouts and no walks in his debut. Not only did Strasburg not issue any walks, he only reached three total 3-ball counts.
Stephen Strasburg’s first start was remarkable for a multitude of reasons. The sheer spectacle, the stuff, the velocity, and the strikeouts. Perhaps the most interesting thing to watch, as Strasburg’s career develops, will be his efficiency. His first start already ranks among the most efficient games ever. We already knew he had the stuff and the velocity. If he can combine that natural talent with the kind of efficiency he showcased on Tuesday, watch out MLB.
9
Somebody test him.
You mean with a metal detector or something? I’m not sure he’s human either.
Does he have a birth certificate?
From this planet? Doubt it
Good heavens.
alright, I get it, this guy is go(o)d!
I don’t know where to mine such a query, but how common is 12+ for outings under 95 pitches?
Well, I checked Randy Johnson’s game logs since 2002. Best Ks on <95 pitches=11. Of the games he had 14 k's, averaged 120 pitches (range of 112 to 125).
Granted, he may have done something similar in the decade before.
Baseball reference has a neat tool for this:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/pgl_finder.cgi
Answer: Only 17 times (12+ K’s, <= 95 pitches) since 1920. Nobody else has managed 14. Pretty rare!
in what way does his first start represent one of the “most efficient games ever”? examples of pitchers who have lasted longer on fewer pitches (the definition of efficiency, i think) are too numerous to recount.
Yes, but as Jack said, no other pitcher has recorded so many strikeouts on so few pitches. That’s the kind of efficiency (with a helping of dominance) that he’s talking about.
Yeah, but I doubt he included games with more than 14. For example, in Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout game, how many pitches did it take to get up to 14Ks?
Good point. Wood’s 14th came on the 93rd pitch.
Also, Clemens fanned 14 on 92 pitches in his second 20 K game.
Great point. Its not that other pitchers haven’t been as efficient, its that they’ve been more efficient and lasted longer.
So a Baseball Reference search for performances of 94 or fewer pitches & 14 or more strikeouts returned what has to be an error. They credited a Chris Short with 18 Ks in 15 IP on a ridiculous 87 pitches. Again, this HAS to be an error.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/pgl_finder.cgi#n1=&as=result_pitcher&offset=0&match=basic&st=&min_year_game=1920&max_year_game=2010&series=any&series_game=any&WL=any&team_id=&team_lg=&opp_id=&opp_lg=&throws=any&HV=any&game_site=&Role=anyGS&DEC=any&orderby=SO&c1pgl=Pitches&c1gtlt=lt&c1val=94&c2pgl=SO&c2gtlt=gt&c2val=14&c3pgl=&c3gtlt=eq&c3val=0&c4pgl=&c4gtlt=eq&c4val=0&c5pgl=&c5gtlt=eq&c5val=1.0&c5pgl_b=&firstgames=&firstteamgames=
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196510022.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?n1=shortch02&t=p&year=1965
Yeah that game has him with 15 IP as well. Maybe they meant 187 pitches?
I like the math in this though.
18K x 3 pitches = 54 pitches
15 IP x 3 outs = 45 outs
45 – 18 = 27 non K outs.
81 pitches NEEDED for 45 outs…so he had room to throw 6 extra pitches in 15 innings :) That leads to a solid first pitch strike percentage!
How many of his strikeouts came against the opposing pitcher?
Two
I wonder if this feat has been done more times, but is masked by game finder filters because the pitchers stayed in (well) beyond 94 pitches. My guess is yes, but maybe not that many times. Kerry Wood’s 20-K game came on 122 pitches, and RJ’s came on 124.
It was the Pirates.
Yes it was the Pirates, but nobody else has dominated them like this.
Jonathan Sanchez, April 14th.
8 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts, 0 runs, 109 pitches.
Yeah, Sanchez walked 3 and struck out 3 less, but he also went another inning with 15 more pitches and didn’t allow a home run like Strasburg.
All in all, similar domination. That being said, what a great first day on the job.
good point, Wood struck out a hitter every 6.1 pitches, Strasburg every 6.7 pitches.
Wood’s game is arguably the best ever thrown. Only 1 infield hit and 20Ks.
Yeah I agree that it may be the best ever (Note: I don’t like the Cubs). The highest game score ever, and even that hit could’ve been played differently and made it a 20K perfect game.
I don’t think you can say that Strasburg’s is anywhere near the top– but why should it be? The biggest question might be why he was taken out, but then again the fate of Wood’s arm maybe influenced that decision.
It would have been a 20K no-hitter. Wood also hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.
Oh yeah.
Not to mention that game came against a great offense with the likes of Bagwell, Biggio, Bell, Alou among others. In terms of runs scored Houston had far and away the top offense in the NL and was top 5 in all of baseball that year.
Well, actually if that hit was turned into an out, then he wou;ld’ve only K’d 19 batters.
And I’d also like to add that MLB Network replayed that game sometime last year, and even 11 years later, a fan of another team, knowing the outcome, in the middle of the night, it was the best non-playoff game I’ve ever seen.
Jack,
I think you are forgetting about at least one other pitcher, Kerry Wood. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the box score for his game 0n May 5, 1998 shows him making his 14th strikeout on his 93rd pitch and his 15th on his 97th pitch while on his way to 20 strikeouts in 122 pitches.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199805060.shtml#play_by_play
(there is a slight discrepancy when you add the individual pitch counts up. it adds up to 123 total but they counted a balk in the 3rd inning as a pitch when I believe it is no pitch at all as it is a dead ball and any pitch nullified when a balk is called)
I took me so long to write an research my comment that I didn’t see people were already taking about Wood’s 20 strikeout game. Sorry.
So can someone get a spreadsheet and figure out home many times pitchers have struck out a batter every 6.86 pitches or less?
For years there are pitch counts post 1974:
Kerry Wood (5/6/1998) – 17K / 123 Pitches
Greg Maddux (9/23/2000) – 13K / 81 Pitches
Ben Sheets (05/16/2004) – 18K / 116 Pitches
Matt Perisho (10/3/1999) – 12K / 78 Pitches
Randy Johnson (5/8/2001) – 20K / 131 Pitches
Johan Santana (8/19/2007) – 17K / 112 Pitches
Who the hell is Matt Perisho?
One of those names doesn’t belong. Day game following an extra-inning night game? *grin*
It is depressing how close Seattle came to having him pitch in a Mariners uniform.
Stupid Mariners…can’t even lose right.
That was Pedro Martinez 2000 type stuff, absolutely filthy.
That’s what I was thinking as I watched it, best starting pitcher performance I’ve seen in person since Pedro in 2000, and given the circumstances – probably better. Certainly better than the Wilson Alvarez no-hitter I saw.
Watching him pitch was a treat. I swear it looked like his offspeed stuff was being thrown with a wiffle ball. He has video-game like movement on a lot of those pitches.